Bonjour,
Maybe you remember from my last Journal I mentioned a very good March - I did not anticipate such a strong April to follow. Compared with the last couple of years things are really getting better. In fact, it looks like we will need to recruit more people if we want to make it through to the festival...thanks again for your support.
For the first time in years I spent Easter at home with the family and while the weather was pleasant in Edinburgh it was raining in the South of France! Mind you, maybe just as well as I was there to put the final touches to the Wine Tasting/Gastronomique Languedoc tour in June and because of the Easter holidays, trying to meet up with everyone was pretty hectic.
The programme this year is really looking great with some new vineyards and new restaurants added to last year schedule. The one I am really looking forward to is a day in the village of Berlou in the St Chinian appellation. I tasted a couple of the wines already and I hope they soon will be on the wine list at La Garrigue.
I still have space for a couple of people so if you are free from the 15th to the 22nd of June and are not too fussy about your waistline, give me a call!!
Without any doubt, the highlight of the month was the Corsican evening. Probably the most difficult to organise but also the most successful. I have to thank Veronique Abbatucci from the Farm Fildirosa in Serra Di Ferro for helping me to bring in their famous Vache Tigre, or Tiger Veal, in time for the dinner. It took about two months to get the paper work accepted and the veal arrived the day before the dinner. Peter Murphy from Campbells Prime Meat was a great help in getting people involved in Rungis for importing the veal; thank you guys!
The Corsican chef from the estate even sent me the secret sauce to serve with it! Maybe they know something about my cooking!! I never heard about this Vache Tigre before and thought it was a wind up when Guillaume Rodet, the Brand Ambassador, who also selected the wines for the evening, mentioned it to me. Worth a look at www.vachetigre.com
It is a really unique product and worth waiting for. The wines also were very pleasant especially the Patrimonio 2009 Domaine Cordoliani, and the Clos Marc-Aurele 2010 Domaine Tanella. The Corsican wines are relatively unknown outside the island but worth looking out for. So successful was the evening I am planning to do another one in November, but this time over the weekend rather that just one evening; I will keep you informed.
I wish you all a very enjoyable Spring. Please pop in to say hello and have a bite with us, and in the meantime, I am going to keep working on my recruitment issues.
A bientot,
J-Michel and the team.
Maybe you remember from my last Journal I mentioned a very good March - I did not anticipate such a strong April to follow. Compared with the last couple of years things are really getting better. In fact, it looks like we will need to recruit more people if we want to make it through to the festival...thanks again for your support.
For the first time in years I spent Easter at home with the family and while the weather was pleasant in Edinburgh it was raining in the South of France! Mind you, maybe just as well as I was there to put the final touches to the Wine Tasting/Gastronomique Languedoc tour in June and because of the Easter holidays, trying to meet up with everyone was pretty hectic.
The programme this year is really looking great with some new vineyards and new restaurants added to last year schedule. The one I am really looking forward to is a day in the village of Berlou in the St Chinian appellation. I tasted a couple of the wines already and I hope they soon will be on the wine list at La Garrigue.
I still have space for a couple of people so if you are free from the 15th to the 22nd of June and are not too fussy about your waistline, give me a call!!
Without any doubt, the highlight of the month was the Corsican evening. Probably the most difficult to organise but also the most successful. I have to thank Veronique Abbatucci from the Farm Fildirosa in Serra Di Ferro for helping me to bring in their famous Vache Tigre, or Tiger Veal, in time for the dinner. It took about two months to get the paper work accepted and the veal arrived the day before the dinner. Peter Murphy from Campbells Prime Meat was a great help in getting people involved in Rungis for importing the veal; thank you guys!
The Corsican chef from the estate even sent me the secret sauce to serve with it! Maybe they know something about my cooking!! I never heard about this Vache Tigre before and thought it was a wind up when Guillaume Rodet, the Brand Ambassador, who also selected the wines for the evening, mentioned it to me. Worth a look at www.vachetigre.com
It is a really unique product and worth waiting for. The wines also were very pleasant especially the Patrimonio 2009 Domaine Cordoliani, and the Clos Marc-Aurele 2010 Domaine Tanella. The Corsican wines are relatively unknown outside the island but worth looking out for. So successful was the evening I am planning to do another one in November, but this time over the weekend rather that just one evening; I will keep you informed.
I wish you all a very enjoyable Spring. Please pop in to say hello and have a bite with us, and in the meantime, I am going to keep working on my recruitment issues.
A bientot,
J-Michel and the team.